Honey shakes her head and pats my shoulder before she gets back to work. Evie’s bound to show up any minute, she says. There are men out looking for her right now. And then somebody will take her up to Kinter with them. Get her on the shelter bus to Monroe. See that she’s taken care of.
But I know time is running out.
I catch sight of Hart sitting on the steps of the Mystic Rose, and I know he purposefully skipped out on the painful goodbye with the others.
I walk over and sit down beside him.
“He took her,” Hart tells me. “Evie.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I say. “You don’t know that.”
But all morning, I’ve had this horrible feeling. It isn’t like Evie to go off alone.
“Me and Leo, we’ve been out lookin’ for ’er for hours. Since sunup.” Hart stares down at his boots and runs a hand over his face. “She’s gone, Greycie. Vanished.”
Honey yells at me from the dock. She wants me to take one last walk through the house.
Hart follows me inside as I move from room to room. “I told Mama and Leo I’m not goin’ today,” he says. And I stop to stare at him. I didn’t believe him when he said it last night. I figured he was out of his head. Or talkin’ big. “I told ’em I wouldn’t leave here without Evie. That I’d stay and track her down. There’s a chance she’s still alive. At least right now.”
His voice echoes in the emptiness.
“Leo says their company has a big supply boat still out in the gulf. It’s tryin’ to get in, though, so it can beat the storm up to New Orleans. It’ll be comin’ up this way tomorrow mornin’， just ahead of landfall.”
“No way.” I shake my head. “That’s cutting it too close.”
“Leo already radioed the captain, and they’re gonna make a quick stop here. To pick up Evie. They’ll get her someplace safe. If I can find her.”
The radio is still broadcasting weather updates from the kitchen. A reporter tells us that Elizabeth is a Category 5 hurricane now. And she’s only 225 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi.
“What about you?” I ask him.
Hart shakes his head. “I told you I’m not going.”
“Don’t be stupid, you have to –”
Hart shuts me down. “I’m not leaving here.”
“Sugar Bee!” Honey is yelling at me from the front porch. “We gotta get on the way.”
“I’m staying with you,” I tell him, and he shakes his head.
“The hell you are.”
“Just until tomorrow morning. To help look for Evie. Then I’ll get on that boat. I promise.”
And I’ll make sure he’s on it, too.
No way I’m leaving him behind.
Hart opens his mouth to tell me no again, but Honey charges in holding Sweet-N-Low. “We have to go, Sugar Bee. The wind’s really picking up.”
“I’m not going,” I tell her. “Not right now.” She stares at me, confused. “I’m staying behind with Hart. To find Evie.” Hart’s opens his mouth, but I grab his hand and squeeze hard. “We’ve already lost Elora. I’m not losing Evie, too.”
And there is no way I’m letting Hart stay here to die.
“Evie will be fine,” Honey argues. “There are people looking for her right now. They’ll find her. She’ll be okay.”
“Evie isn’t somebody else’s responsibility,” I say. “She’s my responsibility. And Hart’s.”
Hart stares at me with those hazel eyes, and for the first time in a long while, they look like the eyes I’ve known my whole life.
“Grey’s right,” he says. “Evie’s one of us, Miss Roselyn. We oughtta be the ones lookin’ for ’er.”
“Grey,” Honey starts. “I’ve got people already loaded in my boat. Waiting. They’re counting on me to get them up to Kinter and –” I don’t let her finish.
“My mother killed herself because she couldn’t live with the guilt of what she did.”
Honey’s face crumples. She looks like she’s at least a hundred years old. “She didn’t know about the little boy, Grey. I told you that.”
“I know,” I tell her. “But it was that regret that killed her. And if I leave here without finding Evie, the same thing could happen to me.”
“There’s a big supply boat comin’ in tomorrow mornin’。 Just ahead of the storm,” Hart says. “Carrying evacuees from the offshore oil rigs. Headin’ up to New Orleans. And I promise you, Miss Roselyn, Grey will be on that boat. I give you my word. Leo’s already got it all worked out.”